Archaeologists in Kuwait have discovered a 7,year-old clay figurine that looks eerily similar to a modern-day depiction of an alien.
But while this figurine may look more supernatural than human, its style was common in ancient Mesopotamia , although it's the first of its kind ever to be found in Kuwait or the Arabian Gulf. The small, finely crafted head, with slanted eyes, a flat nose and an elongated skull, was found during excavations this year at Bahra 1 , a prehistoric site in northern Kuwait where a joint Kuwaiti-Polish team has been excavating since Bahra 1 was one of the Arabian Peninsula's oldest settlements, with occupation lasting from around to B.
During this time, Bahra 1 was settled by the Ubaid, a culture that originated in Mesopotamia and is known for its distinctive pottery, including its alien-like figurines. The collision of these peoples and their cultures resulted in a "prehistoric crossroads of cultural exchange," Szymczak, an archaeologist at the University of Warsaw's Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, told Live Science in an email.
Part of this exchange included art, like the recently unearthed figurine. Related: Lumpy flint figurines may be some of the earliest depictions of real people. Moreover, it's made of Mesopotamian clay, not like the "Coarse Red Ware" ceramics local to the Arabian Gulf, meaning the Ubaids were actively importing their homegrown traditions into the region. Ubaid figurines are sometimes called "lizard-headed," "bird-like," or "ophidian" meaning "snake-like," according to University of Chicago publications.
The newfound figurine is likely "imbued with symbolic meaning," Szymczak said, even though the figurine was discovered in a "mundane activity area," not in a special or symbolic place β like the graves they've been found in throughout Mesopotamia.
